Hackman the Gnar

HACKMAN - THE GNAR!

By Brian Brannon

10.06.08

I love skateboarding. So many people with such incredible personalities, always ready to hang it all out on the edge for the thrill of almost dying, or just for blazing by at a full speed clip with surety and style. Dave Hackett is all of the above. He’s got soul for days and never ceases to amaze. Take him to any backyard pool in Anywhere, USA, and he will dominate the session with moves torn straight out of a vintage surfing magazine. I’m proud to call him my friend and look forward to our next session together because I know it will be filled with camaraderie, commitment and 100% aggression.

The thing I like about doing interviews like these is that we can all get a skate history lesson from them… First off, how did you start skating?
I started skateboarding Christmas, 1965 after my sister, my brother and I received Red Roller Derby skateboards under the tree. I guess mom and dad heard the news: Skateboarding was the newest “fad.” I really didn’t get serious about riding until I was nine. That summer of 1969 I started bombing the hills of Malibu where I grew up.

I remember seeing pictures of you back at the Marina Del Rey Dogbowl. What’s that connection and how far does it go?
The story goes that my brother Paul was hitch-hiking back from a session at Revere one day and was picked up by Dennis Ogden, who was interested in building a skatepark in or around Santa Monica. Paul introduced him to Ray Allen, who was our photographer at the time, who also was involved in building skateparks. The next thing we knew, we were riding a fairly realistic version of Dino’s DogBowl, but with a better shallow end and music pumped into the bowl via speakers!

My cloudy, befuddled memory also seems to recall a stint with Skull Skates. How was that?
The Skull Skates era of my career was Excellent! PD (Peter Duccoman) is a super cool cat with a long and rich history of manufacturing some of Canada’s finest and toughest Canadian Hardrock Maple Decks. (PD’S HOTSHOP). Olson first got hooked up with them, then brought in Me, Duane, and Hosoi to round out the team back in ‘85-‘88. We made some of the sickest shapes and graphics, and sold a boat load of decks! We all had Good Times!

You’ve pretty much been cruising backyard bowls throughout California for three decades. What keeps you doing it and don’t you ever get tired of running from the po-po?
I will NEVER tire of riding backyard pools!  That is (for me) The best part about skateboarding is a perfect backyard pool. The rush, the lines, the style, the speed, riding with your bros… Nothing better!  I usually don’t barge and drain the pools anymore. I have soldiers who do that for me! However, if I need to, I will. I also never run from the “po po.” I just negotiate my way out now. Hell, one time I was riding a pool way out halfway to Arizona at a trailer park with Brad Bowman and Dave “The Reuler” Reul and we got busted by two sets of po po. The heat were so amazed that we were the guys who they used to see in all the magazines that they let us take about ten more rides and escorted us out after getting our autographs!

The Snap-back Gnarler. I don’t think you can really call that a trick. It’s more of a move. Other people do frontside grinds, but you crank it around in a split second of destruction like nobody’s business. I remember the shot of you at Dolores’ pool. Big old coping and you have both back wheels sitting on the coping. A lesser man would have hung up and committed a percussive skull bongo. But you do them on the regular. How do you do that?
The Snap-back Gnarler is actually a different move than The Hackett Slash. Respectfully speaking, the Snap-back Gnarler is a Move that Jay Adams made up and is almost the same as The Hackett Slash. The only difference is the amount of hip to upper body twist ratio, and the fraction-of-a-second stop (on coping with axle) that I do on The Hackett Slash. The only way to properly do a correct Hackett-Slash is to go up frontside and throw EVERYTHING you have at the coping with your back axle, then slam down the nose of the board on re-entry as you twist like a pretzel, stopping on coping, then release it and let it flow… it kinda helps if you know how to surf first. You won’t be seeing Mathias Ringstrom trying one of these anytime soon!

“Hackman - The Gnar"… where does that name come from? I love it but I know people give you grief…
HA HA!  Like I care...I can’t remember who, but someone was laughing when I laid out a DeathBox ad and at the bottom I wrote: “Only the GNAR,” and then the thought came to me; You know, we skateboarders are really barbaric, so why not have barbaric names like “Hackman - The Gnar” or “Tony Mag - The Conqueror” or “Duane - The Terrible”? Just funny stuff… I think some people did give me grief until I did the Loop…

Surfing, skating, what’s the aggression connection?
It’s all the same to me – flowing style.

Where you been skating these days, with who?
I skate mainly at new parks and backyard pools with Duane, Salba, Tony Mag, and sometimes Olson.

What else you been up to?
Well, let’s see… aside from riding skateboards, my wife and I developed an Online Psychometric tool, which has been named the “most progressive and cutting edge human assessment technology in decades” by many, from Executive Life Coaches and MFT’s to Psychologists. We branded it as “The Ultimate Life Tool” and you can check it out here.

I also serve on the board of trustees at Seaside Center for Spiritual Living and guide others in spiritual enlightenment, development and expansion of one’s consciousness as an executive life coach.

Any shout outs?
I would just like let everyone know that of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul which have been restored and brought to light in this age, NONE is better to know than this: that a person is the master of thought, the molder of character, and the maker and shaper of their conditions, environments, and destiny… God Bless, and so it is…

Thanks my man. Let’s ride...
IT’S ON!!

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